Daily Debate: Will Nintendo Make A New Seafaring Zelda Game Before the End of the Decade?
Posted on August 25 2023 by Sean Gadus
Twenty years since its release, The Wind Waker remains one of the most iconic games in the Zelda series. While the game retains many of the gameplay elements that made Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask successful, the dramatic change in art style, improvements in gameplay, and the new mode of transportation helped The Wind Waker stand out. Overall, I would argue that the choice to put The Wind Waker‘s direct sequel (Phantom Hourglass) on the Nintendo DS resulted in Nintendo never fully capitalizing on the expansive potential of sea-based Zelda adventures. With this in mind, do you think that Nintendo will make a new seafaring Zelda game before the end of the decade?
Overall, I hope that Nintendo’s next big Zelda game is a seafaring adventure, but I still find it somewhat unlikely that Nintendo returns to the idea. The increased power of the Nintendo Switch (or hypothetically, the Nintendo Switch’s successor) means that Nintendo could make a seafaring adventure without many of the constraints that surround The Wind Waker‘s development on the Nintendo GameCube.
For example, the speed of sailing was defined by the speed in which the game could load content, which is why the Swift Sail was introduced in The Wind Waker HD for Wii U. Additionally, The Wind Waker is laid out on a 7×7 grid, with one island in each square of the grid. A current-gen seafaring Nintendo game could have more complex or detailed areas. While Nintendo has dabbled with the idea of seafaring with the Lanayru Sand Sea in Skyward Sword and the Necluda Sea in Breath of the Wild, Nintendo seem loath to commit to a full seafaring game.
What do you think? Do you think Nintendo will make another seafaring adventure game by the end of the decade? If so, what do you want from a seafaring Zelda game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. He is currently replaying the narrative ghost story Oxenfree, and taking his first stab at playing Dark Souls. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
